


Blink And You'll Still Be Here

by variableIntroversion



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Cuddling, Fluff, M/M, Oral Sex, Pantheon AU, Unrelated Striders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:28:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22037056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/variableIntroversion/pseuds/variableIntroversion
Summary: A lazy morning spent between the Knight of Time and his mortal lover.
Relationships: Dave's Bro | Beta Dirk Strider/Dave Strider
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Blink And You'll Still Be Here

**Author's Note:**

> 'Tis the season to post the Secret Santa fics. This one is a pretty big jump away from my usual writing style for these guys, but it seemed to go over well, so hopefully y'all will like it too!

The morning light of the pantheon's homelands filtered gently through sheer silken curtains. Material made not to block the sun out, but to temper its rays into something softer. To turn the blinding white into a pale gold that seemed to err just on the side of 'otherworldly'.

By all rights, someone with eyes as sensitive as the Knight of Time's ought to be woken quickly once the sun rose. His dark eyewear wasn't just for show, despite what some might suggest. But he'd long since gotten used to it, and it wasn't as if he actually needed sleep. Not in the same way the warm body he was pressed up against did.

Bro was still peacefully asleep in his arms, seemingly content with his place as the little spoon despite his silent grousing and many attempts to reverse their positions. Dave didn't care to be restricted that way, didn't like the feeling of being stifled, and he knew Bro knew that. It was probably the only reason the mortal relented. Not because of the god's status, no, he would hardly let something so trivial control him. Knowing that sent warm tingles through Dave's chest that he didn't know how to describe.

By all accounts, he shouldn't be this fond of a mortal. Imbalances in status weren't any problem - he cared as little about that as Bro did, which was another reason for why they clicked so well. But mortals were fragile. Mortals were, comparatively, weak in body, and their lifetimes could pass in the blink of a god's eye.

Their spirits, though.

Their minds and souls, those could measure up to the best and the worst of the pantheon's. From vivacious, honey-gold Prospitans to taciturn, midnight-lilac Dersites. There was no barrier separating the quality of minds and souls between humans and gods, no matter the gap in physicality and power. Some would argue otherwise, spouting about heresy and disrespect. Those were both things that Bro shrouded himself with.

Sharp tongue, sharp wit, dripping with sarcasm and scorn and pride, unmoving and unmovable. It was what had drawn Dave in, and it was what kept him interested. Mortals who scorned and spat on the gods weren't unusual, but that was an angry sort of disrespect. High-energy and emotional, brimming with rebellion. Bro's demeanor was always calmer. Something steady and self-assured. He held himself with the pride and confidence of a mountain. He didn't respect the gods, but only insomuch as he believed that even a deity had to earn it, just like any mortal would.

It was the height of hubris, and Dave loved it. He loved Bro's burning soul and unshakeable steadiness. He loved his sharp tongue, how he gave as good as he got. He loved every inch of his scarred, battle-worn body. And he loved mornings like this, where he would wake up first and have the chance to lie still and count his lover's breaths, feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeats.

The mortal must have been especially tired to sleep in so late, but then, that wasn't a surprise given how they'd spent the night before. Loving bruises were decorating both of them still, stark against Dave's inhumanly pale skin and complementary against the gold of Bro's. They would fade more quickly from the god, but that was to be expected. Something in him relished knowing that even days after the fact, signs of him would be left on the human's body.

Softly, he placed a kiss to a small purple blotch on Bro's shoulder. It didn't garner so much as a twitch, so Dave carried on to trace his lips over every lingering mark they could reach. There were plenty to choose from, so minutes whittled away while he showered his affections onto the sleeping mortal in his bed. The man looked so peaceful like this, he thought. Face slack and eyes closed, being free of the sternness or impassivity that usually masked it only emphasized how vulnerable Bro was right then.

The Knight prided himself in knowing that he was one of very, very few who ever got to see such a thing. That Bro would trust him to be this close, lips on his throat and sword on the wall, when he was completely helpless. It only made the glow in Dave's chest that much harder to ignore, and he cupped the human's cheek so he could turn his face into a proper kiss.

Unsurprisingly, this was enough to rouse him. Much to Dave's delight, Bro's first conscious action was to kiss him back, even before those golden eyes the god loved so much fluttered open. He hid a smile against the mortal's lips, then against his cheek, then his neck. When Bro rolled over to wrap Dave in his own arms, he met no resistance.

"G'morn'n t' you, too." He mumbled out around a stifled yawn. Never a true morning person. One of many little details that very few were privy to. Dave's hidden smile grew, remembering again that he was one of those people.

"Morning. More like noon, actually, but same difference."

Bro grunted at that, flippant as ever. Why wouldn't he be, though? Time was meaningless in the realm of the pantheon. Dave could return him to the split second he'd whisked Bro away and everybody in the mortal world would be none the wiser.

"One've the nicer ways I've been woken up." Bro said, words still slurred with grogginess. The god liked to think that he wasn't imagining the affection in his tone.

"Obviously. Who wouldn't want to wake up in bed with me?" Dave pretended to preen in the wake of words they both knew were anything but serious. Bro's good-natured eye roll went unseen.

"Would ya like that list in alphabetical order?" The words could have come out scalding, but they were delivered with a tempering edge of amusement. If that hadn't pushed it into friendly territory, the warm hand stroking slowly down Dave's spine certainly did.

"Alphabetical and chronological, on my temple's altar by summer equinox and not a second later. Make it snappy." Dave sighed out the command, eyes drooping shut under the gentle attention of Bro's hand. He all but purred when it kneaded at the point where the back of his neck met his head, trustingly limp in his lover's arms. Not that Bro could do anything to him then that would last, physically. But the principal of hiding vulnerability was something they both shared, understood, and appreciated.

"I'll make sure it has no fewer 'n five jokes at the expense of your abysmal sex life."

"You're part of that sex life."

"Case in point."

Despite himself, Dave lost an amused snort at that, and he didn't fight against the grin that briefly curled his lips up. He didn't look up from where his forehead had met Bro's chest, but if he did, he was confident he would have gotten a glimpse of a similar expression.

"Well, if we're counting you, we can take abysmal one step farther to 'irredeemable'."

"And it's still the best sex you've e'er had."

"Least I've got room for improvement."

It was Bro's turn to snort then, a dismissive sort of sound, before they both lapsed into comfortable silence. No hurt feelings, just a lingering sense of entertainment that Dave always felt after they snipped at each other. Bro never treated him with deference, never grovelled, never played nice just because one of them was a god. It was such a refreshing feeling after far too much of both.

The human's hand was still stroking up and down his back, trapped in the lazy repetition of the movement. Dave soaked it up just like he always did; eternally, silently touch-starved. His eyes stayed closed and he counted Bro's breaths and he revelled in the simple comfort of a warm body against his, until his own hands couldn't keep still. One found its place on a strong shoulder, just as it always seemed to. The other began to glide over expanses of gold skin, trailing over scars and mapping out the curves and dips of muscle. Down Bro's chest, up along his side and then around to his back, until it could mirror the mortal's touch tit for tat.

Bro didn't arch into it, didn't make his own need for the soft contact so obvious, but like Dave he seemed to slowly melt into it. Both of them let so few people get close, and even fewer get this close. Hiding vulnerability was a principal, but it was a tiring one in the long run. Idly, Dave considered how easily Bro could grip his hair instead of combing through it right then. Jerk his head, slam it into the wall, force it back to bare his neck. None of that came, just as his own hand was nothing but gentle when it massaged the tension points just behind Bro's jaw.

That easy, unspoken trust turned the warmth in Dave's chest into a low burn. He pressed a lingering kiss to Bro's collar bone, then another, a little higher, until he'd left a trail of them all the way up to his neck. When he pulled on the human's other shoulder to lay him on his back, Bro went willingly, sprawled out and waiting to see what would come of it.

Dave slid on top of him then, lips still on his neck and hands caressing his arms. There were only the barest hints of teeth with every kiss; gentle grazes and nothing more. The bruises were all treated tenderly, painted over with soft brushes of skin that slowly began to migrate downwards. Dave traced his lover's collar bones with his lips again, then down along his sternum. Bro's hands found a place in the god's hair, on his back, rubbing softly with encouragement and appreciation.

Both appendages had to settle on Dave's head once he slipped lower still, tugging the blankets down to completely expose Bro's naked body. Neither of them were shy, showing or looking. The human smirked lazily as the Knight's eyes burned over every inch of him with hunger and admiration. Dave would wonder if it was an ego boost, having a god looking at him like that, but he doubted his deific status had anything to do with it. Bro had been a cocky bastard long before they'd met, and he'd probably continue to be one 'til the end of days.

That being said, when Dave dropped his head to place an almost worshipful kiss to the head of Bro's hardening cock, he could see the human's pupils blow wide. He had to hide a satisfied smirk of his own by lowering his head again to place another kiss, that time at the base of the shaft. Bro made no pleased sounds just yet, always one to make Dave work for it, but seeing the hungry look in his eyes was more than enough for the god right then.

It wasn't a quick or even especially messy affair. Dave gently cupped Bro in hand and licked along the underside of his length, slow and thorough as he pleased the man. That went on just until he could see Bro's muscles tense with restraint, and then he finally took the cock into his mouth properly. He was rewarded with a faint but satisfied sigh that he burned to hear more of, so he began bobbing his head with cheeks hollowed.

His tongue laved over whatever it could reach, paying special attention to the places where he knew Bro was sensitive. In turn he could hear the mortal's breaths growing faster, growing rougher, sounds in his chest too soft for a normal human to hear rumbling up just to die out before they could pass his lips. Dave only redoubled his efforts with the hope of changing that, and he practically glowed with satisfaction when a quiet groan drifted out of Bro.

Those restrained sounds gradually became more commonplace, rising in volume until Bro was tugging at Dave's hair in warning. The god ignored the gentle pulling, red eyes flickering up to meet gold with an expectant look to them. That was what seemed to tip Bro over the edge, his hips stuttering and a long, low moan on his lips as he came undone. Dave swallowed him down and licked him clean before at last lifting his head.

Bro seemed to be basking in the afterglow, eyes shut and head tipped back as his breaths slowly evened out. The sheer curtains were doing nothing by then to hold back the sunlight, and it tinted him gold. He looked like a living sculpture, Dave thought idly as he admired the sight. Handsome and sated and slightly rugged, scarred but still perfect as far as the god was concerned.

He was lucky to have this, to have him, to spend as much time with Bro as he did. Even more lucky was his own mastery of Time, how he could make the blink of a mortal's life last an eternity. He could stretch every second of Bro's life into a thousand years, and in the classic selfishness of a god, he would. He would and he knew Bro would let him, because they were both selfish in the end; because they both wanted this just as badly as the other.

"Y' gonna keep starin' all mornin'?" Bro slurred, cracking one tired eye open to meet Dave's. He wondered if the human would fall asleep again.

"Morning's already gone, Bro. Might set noon aside for it, though. Not that your ego needs any more stroking, but you're pretty easy on the eyes. Better to look at than that spot on my ceiling, anyways."

Bro grunted, hooking his hands under Dave's arms before hauling the god onto his chest. Said god letting it happen with not a word of protest, and not at all because he enjoyed being lifted like he weighed as much as a bag of air. "I 'lready know I'm pretty."

"But you like it when I say it." Dave squirmed to get comfortable, settling his head on Bro's shoulder while their legs tangled haphazardly. A warm, calloused hand was already starting to stroke along his back again, teasing out a pleased sigh.

"Mm..." Bro's hand settled on the Knight's hip, giving a soft squeeze as he lifted a questioning eyebrow. _"Do you want me to return the favor?"_ He asked silently.

Dave shook his head and tucked his arm a little more firmly around Bro's side. _"No, I'm comfortable here."_ He'd already been plenty sated the night before, and as tempting as it was to take Bro up on that offer, the idea of dozing together in the warm noon light was even more appealing right then.

Bro gave a small shrug and his hand resumed its previous rhythm. Dave shut his eyes and breathed in slowly, tension oozing out of him until he was nearly a boneless mass on top of his partner. His free hand wandered up until it was buried in Bro's hair, lazily toying with the soft strands. Predictably, it did much the same to Bro as the hand on his back had done to Dave. Barely three minutes later they were both still save for their slow, deep breaths, wrapped in each other's arms as they slept the day away.


End file.
